You love someone who is not well.
They’re sick with something
they can’t overcome, at least not yet.
Sometimes they’re hurt by circumstances,
sometimes their choices work against them.
But you love them.
You will keep loving them,
being there for them, no matter what,
no matter how ugly it gets,
how brave or foolish they are.
You don’t know how this will turn out.
They may recover; they may not.
But you will be there for them to the end.
You won’t give up hope or commitment.
You will do what you can for their well-being,
gladly, no matter the outcome.
If they heal, it will be with your help.
If this is their last days,
you will fill those days with grace,
with love and light and blessing, and even joy
And you will be grateful to have been there
in those irreplaceable days.

The one you love
is the world.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

           “Do not be afraid;
           from now on you will be fishers of people.”
                           —Luke 5.10


To be fishers of people
is to let the great net of your love
down into their lives,
trusting that there you will discover
miracles and blessings,
and draw them out.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

          When Simon Peter saw it,
          he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying,
          “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
                           —Luke 5.8


Don’t believe the voices you hear
coming up out of the grave in your head,
snaking around you from the shadows,
saying you are not worthy.
Yes, a miracle shimmers under your feet,
yes, you draw wonders from dark mysteries,
yes, you hold the shoals of heaven in your hands,
yes, glory you can’t yet see is more than we can bear.
Yes, and you are worthy,
you are worthy.
The miracle beneath the surface
is not yours to hide.
Open yourself, and be astounded.
Then get up off your knees and come.
The world needs that light.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

           “Put out into the deep water
         and let down your nets for a catch.”
                           —Luke 5.4

What might it mean for you
to let down your net in these deep waters?

To listen deeply to someone,
for what they are saying or not saying,
beneath the surface…

To seek even in your most disappointing failure
the blessing that lurks beneath…

To seek, in someone hard to love,
the divine child, wounded, hidden…

To let the net of your heart
down into the vast depths of humanity
and take it all in, with tender compassion….

To love this world
and let your heart down into its darkness,
trusting the grace of the Beloved schools there…

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

           Simon answered, “Master,
         we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.
         Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
                           —Luke 5.5



So much I already know,
but Teacher, you bid me begin again.

I want progress and productivity,
but Beloved, you bid me kneel again.

I treasure my choosing,
but my Guide and my Wisdom, you bid me obey.

For all my failure,
Blessed One, you tell me the fruit is unseen.


Sometimes going through the motions
of love
produces love.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

           “Put out into the deep water.”
                           —Luke 5.4

The deep is not out there, of course,
but within,
deeper than words and ideas,
deeper than feelings and images,
past murky depths of deeper fears,
wounds submerged and mossy,
in the dark of the utmost terror and joy,
dreams shifting in the half light,
light shining down into the dark mystery,
the unseeable deeps,
the sea-deep silence, dense and still,
where the subterranean seam of blessing
rivers through unnamed hurt,
beyond you, in dark holiness,
where you are pressed in on but perfectly free,
as if the deeper and darker you go the lighter it is,
in the depths that know you, wait for you,
where everything only is—
there,

grace swims, shimmering, always beneath,
seldom visible, always deeper.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

           A prophet is never accepted in their own hometown.
                           —Luke 4.24

Mother of Wisdom,
open my ears.
What is that truth-teller
closest to me
trying to tell me
that I don’t want to hear?

I give thanks for my defensiveness,
for it is my clue
that someone has struck truth.

Give me wisdom to listen,
courage to hear,
humility to accept,
and grace to change.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

*

God is a box
overturned
propped up on edge
on a stick.
Under the box is some bait.
God is the bait
and also
the string.

           •

And yet
you are the bait.
The hunger for yourself
is God.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

           “Now I have put my words in your mouth.”
                           —Jeremiah 1.9

Beloved, I am not a prophet;
but you have placed your grace in me
like a treasure in a chest;
you have planted the seed of your love in me;
you have put your Word in my mouth.

What is your Word in me today?
How shall I speak forth, in word and deed,
your truth?

Give me insight to discern,
courage to proclaim,
and wisdom to heed your Word.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net